Readers Write: Bronx troll challenges Penner yet again

The Island Now

Re: “Who Remembers The Malcolm Wilson Tappan Zee Bridge,” Larry Penner, 8/16/2021.
First, the author states Nelson Rockefeller resigned in 1993 to become vice president. He resigned in 1974.(error corrected)
Second, the author states how Cuomo’s resignation leaves taxpayers stuck with paying higher fares, tolls, and taxes for years to come. Yet in an opinion piece in Mass Transit Magazine dated May 26, 2021, the author states, “Increases for the NY MTA NYC transit bus, subway and Staten Island Railway, MTA Bus along with Long Island Rail Road and Metro North Railroad have been periodically required every few years…They are inevitable, due to increasing costs of labor, power, fuel, supplies, materials, routine safety, state of good repair, replacement of worn-out rolling stock, upgrades to stations, yards and shops, as well as any future system expansion projects necessary to run any transit system and inflation.”
So which is it? Do we have higher fares (and incidentally the fare increases for 2021 the author predicted have not yet come to pass) because of Cuomo or because they are inevitable and necessary?
Third, the author asks, “How long will it take to completely pay off the loans used to finance the Mario Cuomo bridge?” If the author provided details about the loans (how much has been paid off so far), it would be a lot easier to judge how much in debt we are.
The author has the right to write and submit his opinion pieces as often as he chooses. But instead of endlessly whining and complaining, why doesn’t he propose a solution? When the author uses the catchphrase “why not,” he often makes a project of gargantuan proportions seem as easy as drawing a glass of water from the sink, but at least he proposes a solution. What is the point to endlessly pointing out the debts incurred for a bridge already built by a governor no longer in office without proposing a solution?

Nat Weiner

Bronx

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